Revenge of the Heir

Embarrasment

Eric and Melissa walked into the courtroom that their case was assigned to, and he smiled when he saw the frazzled look of Veronica Pierce. He could tell it had been a long 72 hours for her.

"Seems like you have had a rough few days, ready to surrender?" he asked her as Melissa sat down. "It only gets worse from here, and you will always lose." he told her honestly.

"I just have to maintain standing today, than we can worry about everything else." Veronica said looking at him.

"Tell you what, I will give you that blessing. Just so I can have even more fun with my Uncles before I pull the rug out from under them and throw them in prison and make them penny less." he told her as Kevin walked in alone. "Uhp, seems our time is up. Hope you have fun."

Veronica looked at his confident demeanor as he walked over to their table, and she shook her head as she knew her argument for standing was extremely weak.

"How does it look?" Kevin asked Veronica Pierce.

"Which part?" she asked him.

"We are looking good at keeping standing, but do not celebrate. It seems your nephew has something planned and is asking the court to allow the case continue. Seems he likes playing with you here, and no. It was not his attorney who spoke with me, but he did himself. I think he has way more plans than what he is revealing so far. What will he find if he looks deeply?" she asked him quietly.

"Not here." Kevin said as he sat down.

"Whatever it is, you need to decide how much this is worth to you. I do not know what it is he is planning, but he intends to take everything you care about before he throws you in prison for whatever it is." she said only so he could hear as the Bailiff called the court to order.

"In the matter of Heinrich v. Estate of Heinrich, we are here to determine if the Petitioner has standing in this case. Respondent?" Judge Carter asked.

"At this time your honor we will not oppose them maintaining their standing in the matter at hand." Melissa said as she stood up ready to mess with the Petitioner. "We however do ask that the record be changed to reflect the current status of the case. The Estate of Stephen Heinrich has been disbursed by congressional order to Eric Thomas Heinrich. We also ask that the case of Kevin Heinrich v. Estate of Jason Heinrich be combined with this case, and updated to reflect the change by congressional order. It should read Heinrich v. Lord Eric Heinrich." Melissa said handing the petition to the Petitioner and Bailiff so they would have copies. "The orders were executed this morning, and I had no chance to submit them to the court prior to the hearing."

Veronica read the orders, and it alluded to the evidence in the report that had been unsealed the day before and presented to Congress to resolve. "Your honor, we will need a chance to examine these orders before we can respond." Veronica said knowing that whatever he was planning was not good where he was combining the cases.

"Your honor, we are willing to wait for several days for the Petitioner to have a chance to review the orders. However as they are Congressional Orders, the courts are not the proper venue for any appeals that the Petitioner may make in the future." Melissa said as the judge nodded.

"Cases will be updated as ordered. Where is this evidence now Ms. Smart?" Judge Carter asked.

"It is being processed as we speak sir, as the volume of evidence is large. It could take several weeks with our court assistance officer to make certified copies of the evidence for the court. The Congressional Office provided a summary of the evidence that they should finish within the next few minutes." Melissa said as the door opened and 2 court assistance officers walked in carrying a box each. One handed the box to the Bailiff, the other set the box on the table in front of the Respondent. Her secretary brought the box of originals to her desk, and set it to the side.

"How many boxes are we talking about?" Judge Carter asked.

"287 sir." Melissa replied as she had seen them herself when they were delivered to his office.

"287 boxes of this size?" Carter asked as Veronica Pierce looked at her with wide eyes.

"Yes sir, we ask that the court give us 8 weeks to produce the copies required for submission as evidence. We also ask for a continuance of 6 months from today, so that we may have time to review this evidence and determine what legal actions Lord Heinrich would like to pursue." Melissa said before she sat down.

Victoria stood up, and looked at Eric. "Your honor, it is inappropriate to refer to the respondent as Lord when he is not the rightful Heir to that title." she said somewhat confident as the judge looked at her.

"Oh really, and how did you come to that conclusion?" Judge Carter asked her.

"Your honor, the Title Inheritance act clearly states that the title shall pass to the oldest child of the Lord regardless of s*x. As both of my clients older siblings passed from life prior to their father, that leaves my client as the Heir to the Title."

"Respondent?" Carter asked as Eric stood up.

"Defense will accept that argument, as it is indeed worded as such. However we would like to remind the court that Heirs are appointed at birth for the Title, not death. As Steven Heinrich was the oldest child of Jason Heinrich, and he produced a valid Heir prior to his death, I am the rightful Heir to the Lord title."

Victoria looked at him like her head was about to explode, because she had not had proper time to read all of those rules.

"Petitioner motion is denied, as Respondent has a clear grasp on the legal framework. Because Respondent has not objected to your standing here in this Court, this case will proceed. However it is a thin line I am allowing it, as it is the opinion of this Court Kevin Heinrich holds no standing to pursue legal claims against the rightful Heir of the Heinrich family.

"Respondent has 8 weeks to provide opposing council and this Court with the records obtained by Congress and the Imperial Government. This case will be in recess for 6 months, and I sincerely hope I never see it again." Judge Carter ordered slamming his gavel before he stood up and walked from the courtroom.

As soon as Eric and Melissa stood, Kevin and Veronica were in front of them. Kevin looked like he was pissed about this development, but knew there was lost nothing that could be done.

"We would like a serious settlement conference." Victoria Pierce told them.

Eric laughed at that, as Melissa shook her head. "What exactly is it you are proposing?" Eric asked her once he regained his composure.

"We will stipulate you are the Heir, in exchange for not pursuing these actions further." Victoria offered. She knew they were in serious trouble when he laughed again almost hysterically.

"Sorry, but it is far too late to let him off that easily. You want me to not pursue this case?" he asked his Uncle.

"We need to set these differences aside for the benefit of the family." Kevin said nervously.

"You are exactly right in that regard, this does need resolved for the benefit of the family. However it is not so simple as just dropping this case. You want an offer to make it go away, you, Michael and Anthony surrender all of your assets to the family, and leave voluntarily for the benefit of the family. You will leave with nothing more than your smallest house, one car, and whatever clothing belongs to you. After that you will be free to pursue your life however you wish." Eric said making Kevin laugh.

"Never going to happen." Kevin said chuckling to himself.

"I will remind you Kevin, the alternative is Prison for the three of you, and the family strips yours of everything but the clothing on your back. You are nothing without the family you betrayed." Eric told him seriously.

"Good luck proving-" Kevin began when Eric pulled out a file.

"Sorry, I forgot this file was originally part of that box. It has already been submitted into the evidence record as well." Eric said handing Victoria the file about his parents plane crash. "I think you will see according to that summary, you are responsible for the death of my parents. In a conspiracy with Michael and Anthony Heinrich, in order to increase your own power and wealth at the expense of the family. You have been served." he said handing Kevin an Heinrich Family Court Summons. It was to discuss his and his two brothers entire families from the Heinrich Clan.

"Ms. Pierce, you have a month to prepare him for that hearing, as we will be focusing all of our attention on handling this evidence for the Court. You had better hope that you can make more creative arguments, otherwise you will be in serious trouble." Eric said before the two of them began walking out. "Offer is good until the hearing, after that on your head be it."